


Burned

by nikolas_writings



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:21:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22819183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikolas_writings/pseuds/nikolas_writings
Summary: Additional scenes from the episode sun warriors.Disclaimer: I do not own A:tla or any of its characters
Relationships: Aang/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 207





	1. Chapter 1

„The past can be a great teacher!” Aang pointed out smiling to himself and kept walking without really looking followed by Zuko right behind him.

Aang took another step when something caught on his leg and launched him face first to the ground except the ground had shifted and revealed a dark hole. He felt Zuko grabbing his robe trying to stop him from falling into the booby trap but instead of wielding him back Zuko got pulled into the hole as well. 

Aang instinctively got a grip on the prince and shot a blast of air to the ground trying to soften their landing but Zuko’s weight still forced them to the ground with a big thud. Aang groaned when he got back up rubbing the part of his head he had landed on. As he looked up the hole was gone and they were surrounded by darkness. 

“Are you alright?” Aang tried to make out Zuko’s silhouette but his eyes didn’t adjust to the darkness and the prince didn’t answer. 

“Zuko?” the airbender was now searching the ground for his friend until his hands got a grip of fabric. He tugged on it and tried to make out where his friend’s head was located. His hands roamed over his chest and thankfully there was still a steady heartbeat under his fingertips. He let his fingers follow the vein on his neck until he touched his jaw. 

“Zuko are you okay?” when there was still no answer he touched the prince’s face slowly caressing the scar on his left eye. He would never allow Aang to touch it and the airbender kind of took advantage of the situation and let his fingertips follow the scar tissue.

Abruptly a strong hand shot up to his wrist grabbing it tight but before Aang could apologize for his actions his vision blurred and he was suddenly sitting in front of a large table with the map of the earth kingdom spread over its length. He was not alone though, there were men debating over something.

“They’ll be used as a distraction, while we mount an attack from the rear.” one of the men said “What better to use as bait than fresh meat?”

Aang didn’t understand, where was he and who were these people? 

Now there was another voice filling the room. Aang looked around to see who had been the one to speak up next but when all eyes were fixed on him he released that he was the one speaking.

“You can’t just sacrifice an entire division like that. Those soldiers love and defend our nation. How can you betray them?” after those words involuntarily escaped his mouth the room was filled with silence and all opponents faced him with deep scowls until he turned around to see a man behind a wall of fire standing up slowly. 

His vision blurred again and he was now kneeling on the floor bowing his head deep. He felt something warm streaming down his face. Was he bleeding and what was that noise? 

No. He was crying, whimpering even. 

“You will learn respect” a voice right above him growled. He looked up at the man speaking hot tears still running down his face, he was shaking, he was terrified. “and suffering will be your teacher.” 

His eyes were locked with those of the man above him and suddenly there was a stinging pain, it grew with every heartbeat until Aang couldn’t take it anymore and screamed in agony his own voice ringing in his ears. He was on fire, he could feel and smell the skin being melted off his face. He screamed until his voice died out never having felt pain like this before he wanted it to stop but even as the fire was no longer licking at his face the pain exaggerated and with every heartbeat his left side seemed to be set on fire again and again.

He felt sick to the stomach and emptied his gut on the ground spitting and whimpering until blood left a metallic taste in his mouth. He couldn’t see anymore his vision turned black. He was blind, he was blind. The smell of burned flesh once again filled his nose and he puked again this time just bile and blood. He wanted to die. The pain unbearable. He screamed one last time his voice filled with torment before silence took over.


	2. Chapter 2

His head throbbed with pain, that was the first thing he realized. But once he tried to concentrate on his surroundings instead of his head he felt someone touching him, his face. 

Aang caressed his scar, his fingertips slowly traveling to his burned ear, leaving Zuko shuddering under his gentle touch. Worst thing about it was that he didn’t hate it as he usually would when people tried to touch his scar, but he wouldn’t let Aang know that he actually liked it. 

So, he grabbed Aang’s wrist to stop him from exploring more and was just about to tear his curious hands away from him and bark out his disapproval when the room they had fallen into was lit up.

Aang had gone into the avatar state his shining eyes illuminating his face so he had to narrow his eyes the light being too bright. He watched him mesmerized not wanting to move his body fearing he could trigger Aang into attacking him. 

But something seemed wrong. He had seen Aang being in the avatar state a lot of times and every time his tattoos and eyes shone in a bright blue light but this time his tattoos were not affected in the slightest and his eyes glowed in a fiery red, which made the situation even scarier for the young prince.

This wasn’t the Avatar state, it couldn’t be. 

Aang was still holding on to his scarred eye his hand basically glued to his face, when suddenly the Avatar let out a scream of agony that sounded like it was from a thousand past lives. It was so unbearable that Zuko had to clutch his ears and duck onto the ground trying to muffle the sound with his thighs. By moving his body Aang had lost the grip on Zuko’s scar and the screaming stopped abruptly.

Zuko looked back up just to be met with darkness surrounding them once more.

He set a small flame afire as a source of light.

Aang was slumped down in front of him his head bowed and his face covered by his trembling hands.

“What the-“ there was still fear written all over Zuko’s face his breathing slightly exaggerated. “What was that?” he himself was shaking.

When Aang didn’t react Zuko crawled closer and placed a hand on his friend’s back. “Aang?” Zuko lowered his head trying to catch a glimpse of Aang’s face but straightened himself again once he heard Aang sobbing.

“I am so sorry!” Aang said between sobs. Zuko got more and more confused. What was he sorry about? Of course, he wasn’t very fond of people touching his scar or touching him in general, but that was no reason for his friend to react like that.

“What are you sorry for? I don’t understand. What did just happen?” 

“I was there. I saw everything happen. I felt it.” that did not in the slightest help to clear the confusion if anything it made it worse.

“What? What did you see? What do you mean, Aang?” Zuko grew frustrated his flame becoming smaller and smaller the darkness swallowing them up again. Before the fire died out completely he saw Aang shaking his head, he didn’t want to talk about it now, or maybe he couldn’t.

“It’s okay, we don’t need to talk about it now. First we have to get out of here.” Zuko had never been good at comforting people, so he tried to distract his upset friend.

Once again, he illuminated the room with a little flame dancing on his palm. Just now he was taking in their surroundings realizing how lucky they had been since there were spikes plastered all over the floor that could have easily been their end if they hadn’t landed as elegantly as they did. 

He turned around to see if there was a way out but they were surrounded by walls. Zuko looked up to see if there was a chance escaping that way but they had apparently fallen 50 feet, thank god Aang was an airbender Zuko thought to himself. Even though he was the reason they were stuck down here in the first place. But he couldn’t be angry at his friend when he was still cowered on the floor, for whatever reason. 

Maybe the blast on his head was a little harder than he had thought and he was hallucinating, that would at least explain Aang’s red eyes.

He looked back at Aang who seemed to have calmed down a little. It must have been something horrible he had witnessed, for he has never seen him in this state. He always seemed so composed, always standing as firm as a rock. Of course, he had his moments of goofiness but he was still just a kid after all. 

A rock! That’s it! 

“Aang do you think you can earthbend us out of here?” he really wasn’t the sensitive type, but he couldn’t help Aang if he wasn’t willing to tell him what happened and he definitely didn’t want to stay a moment longer in this trap.

Aang stood up and composed himself, finally facing Zuko again, his face still filled with sorrow. He nodded at Zuko and motioned for him to come closer. As the prince did Aang wrapped an arm around his waist and with one quick motion of his hand and a firm stomp on the floor they rose to the ceiling. 

Zuko bowed his head fearing the impact but Aang opened the trapped with another motion of his hand and they were hit by the sunlight again.

Zuko and Aang got back on their path. “Please keep your eyes on your way this time. I’m not ready for another little adventure of yours.” Zuko smiled awkwardly trying to rise the mood and Aang shot him a smile back. It lingered just a mere second on his lips and was far from being honest before he turned back around and started walking again.


	3. Chapter 3

They walked in silence this time being more aware of their surroundings than before, looking out for possible traps. 

Aang seemed to have loosened up a bit and his steps got lighter again, which Zuko was very thankful for. But still he was very curious about what happened and wanted to address the subject again and was about to ask Aang what exactly happened down there. 

He opened his mouth but closed it again when they reached a big wall with dragons carved into stone. The dragons were placed on both sides and they breathed fire out of their snouts which then surrounded a, he supposed it was meant to be a sun warrior. He frowned at the image displaced in front of them.

“Look. This seems promising.” Aang said next to him. “Though I’m not sure what this tells us about the original source of firebending.” Zuko agreed with his friend on this and narrowed his eyes.

“They look pretty angry to me.” Zuko pointed out.

“I thought the dragons were friends with the sun warriors.” he was right and Zuko added “Well they had a funny way of showing it.”

He bowed his head and turned his back to the airbender trying to hide his guilty expression. Zuko felt sympathy for the glorious creatures that once roamed the skies. He had to admit that the world would be a much better place if they would get rid of some certain humans and he wouldn’t mind them being grilled by the fiery breath of one of those dragons. It would be the perfect payback and somehow, he had one specific person in mind. 

But Aang realized his weird reaction and turned to Zuko. “Zuko, something happened to the dragons in the last 100 years.” even though he had his back turned to the young Avatar he could feel him frown “Something you’re not telling me.”

Zuko closed his eyes before he said calmly but with deep hatred “My great-grandfather Sozin happened.” 

They kept walking when Zuko explained. 

“He started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory. They were the ultimate firebenders. And if you could conquer one, your firebending talents would become legendary and you’d earn the honorary title, Dragon. The last great dragon was conquered long before I was born, by my uncle.” Zuko looked down, quite ashamed for what his family had done and kind of blaming himself for it as well, even though he wasn’t even a part of it all.

“But I thought your uncle was, I don’t know, good?” Aang said, apparently not quite believing his uncle would be able to do such horrible things. 

“He had a complicated past.” Zuko said angrily trying to justify his uncle’s action, being well aware that that was no apology for what he had done. Zuko’s defensiveness turned into sadness before he said “Family tradition, I guess.” and he turned around to look at Aang for a mere second before he turned his back to him and kept walking again. 

Therefore, he couldn’t see Aang’s face faltering again and him slowly reaching up to his face caressing his unharmed left eye, still feeling a tingling sensation from his spiritual experience, or whatever had happened to him down there. Since his chakras had been locked when he was hit by the lightning and he actually wasn’t able to go into the Avatar state.


	4. Chapter 4

“Yeah that’s a great dance you two learned there.” Sokka said sarcastically.

“It’s not a dance. It’s a firebending form.” Zuko turned around to look at Sokka with furrowed eyebrows. Everything seemed to be some kind of joke to this boy. 

“We’ll just tap dance our way to victory over the fire lord.” Sokka said teasingly while moving his fingers like legs walking easily to victory. That the others around him smiled at this made Zuko even more furious and he balled his hands into fist before he marched over to Sokka.

“It’s a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old.” Zuko barked at him grinding his teeth. One day this boy would catch his fists, he just knew it.

“Oh, yeah?” Katara raised her eyebrows at Zuko and continued “What’s your little form called?” 

Zukos anger was gone in a second and was replaced with embarrassment and he closed his eyes for a moment.

“The dancing dragon.” 

Everyone fell into a fit of laughter and Zuko grimaced clearly uncomfortable. Aang realized his reaction and clapped his shoulder and shot him the biggest grin he had to offer. 

“Hey what’s up with the long face?” Zuko looked over his shoulder into the young avatars smiling face “Dancing is great and is actually found in every element really!” 

Sokka shot him a glare “What are you talking about?” he picked up a stone next to him and rose it in front of his own face studying it with curiosity.

“Are you trying to tell me that there’s any motion in this piece of dirt?” he threw his head back in a big fit of laughter when Toph added “Yeah Aang, I hate to admit but lord bigmouth has a point. Rock won’t move unless you bend it.” Toph grabbed a handful of earth and morphed in different shades before dropping it dead trying to prove a point. 

Sokka grinned triumphally and nodded satisfied to himself before he realized and shot his head in Toph’s direction and exclaimed “What did you just call me?! “

“How do you explain volcanos and earthquakes then?” Aang shot back with a big grin and Sokka rose his index finger and opened his mouth before he shot a helpless glare to Toph who just shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and said “Whatever Twinkletoes”

The day went on with a little training session with Aang where Zuko showed him some advanced bending forms while Toph, Sokka and Katara searched the local area for some food.

They came back with four small fish and some weird looking pumpkin, or was it a watermelon. Whatever it was it turned out to be quite enjoyable.

They were all sitting around a campfire and chatting happily. Zuko was engulfed in a discussion between Toph and Katara about hygiene and its importance when someone tugged at his robe and he turned around to see Aang kneeling behind him pointing to the further ends of the temple “Can I talk to you for a second?” 

Zuko couldn’t quite read his expression but he knew that something was clearly bothering him and he thought back to yesterday when his eyes shone a bright red color and he let out a deafening scream of agony.

Zuko swallowed hard before he gave an affirming nod and followed Aang to a more remoted area save from the other’s eyes and ears.

Zuko turned around to see that they have been walking for so long that even the light of their campfire was not visible anymore and Aang still kept going. But Zuko followed him without any questions.

They stopped on the ruins of a big fountain. 

Aang sat down on the edge and Zuko just stood there before the airbender tapped the side next to him to encourage him to sit down as well and he did. 

They sat there in silence for a few minutes both of them watching the stars in the sky before Zuko couldn’t take it anymore and broke it “Sooo, what was it exactly you wanted to talk to me about?” 

A big sigh escaped the airbender before he turned his face to Zuko their hands slightly brushing against each other with his motion and he just then realized how close they sat to each other. It made him really nervous and he considered moving a little to give them some space but before he could Aang spoke up.

“I wanted to talk to you about the incident we had yesterday in that booby trap.” 

Zuko instantly forgot what he wanted to do and faced Aang “Okay?”

“Well, I kinda...” Aang stopped and let out a big groan before he buried his face in his hands.

“You kinda what?” Zuko pressured him.

“I know how you got your scar!” Aang blurted out and Zuko just looked him directly in his eyes his face staying emotionless. “I saw how it happened.” Aang bowed his head and looked at his hands in his lap fumbling with his robe before he whispered barely noticeable “I felt it, too” 

It was completely silent for a few seconds.

“You what?” Zuko said with a hoarse voice barely a whisper.

“I don’t know how it happened... I just touched your scar and then I was sitting in a room with other men and they were talking about the earth kingdom… and you- “ Aang looked up back into Zuko’s eyes “You spoke up in front of your father…” 

Zukos jaw clenched visibly before Aang continued “And the next thing I know I was kneeling on the ground and then…” Aang reached up to his left eye “I’m so sorry” he was now whispering.

Zuko’s gaze didn’t falter from Aang’s and their faces were just inches apart, he could feel the airbender’s breath on his lips.

“You-“ Zuko swallowed “You felt it?” 

Aang nodded. 

Zuko fell silent again.

“Can I-“ Aang’s hand rose from his lap and hovered over Zuko’s left eye and the prince gave him a quick nod and Aang gently placed his hand over the burned skin. Zuko closed his eyes and pressed into the touch craving the warmth and gentleness he hasn’t felt since his mother died.

Aang broke the silence “What monster would do something like that?” his voice was filled with hatred. 

Zuko turned his face away from Aang’s touch and then he moved away from him completely his head bowed and his gaze fixated on the ground. He therefore couldn’t see Aang’s angry expression turning into a heartbroken one.

He stood up with one quick motion. He was still staring at the ground when he said, deep hatred lingering in his voice.

“You’ll find out when you face him!” and with that Zuko was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeeeeah I dunno... what do think? Should I write another additional scene?


End file.
